Mountains Play Host to Sedate Schmoozefest

Most years, the mood at the annual Allen & Co. mogulfest here is electrified by any number of dramas. A pending bidding war for a marquee property maybe, or an ongoing clash of industry titans.

This year’s meeting of the media elite seemed subdued by comparison. Regulars Sumner Redstone and John Malone were no-shows, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger bowed out so he could attend the funeral of Austrian President Thomas Klestil.

One entertainment honcho called the conference “buzzless.” Another said there was a sense of “ennui” in the pristine Idaho air. News Corp. heir Lachlan Murdoch graded it “quiet” as he packed up Saturday morning to leave: “These things go in waves.”

But the New York investment bank’s invitation-only conference wasn’t totally devoid of drama, with Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner and Harvey Weinstein, the brash founder of Disney’s Miramax Film subsidiary, providing one sideshow.

After Weinstein arrived Thursday, he set off speculation that Miramax’s contract negotiations with Disney were on the verge of resolution. The reason for the guesswork: He joined Eisner at a very public table -- in front of a duck pond -- at Sun Valley Resort.

The two shook hands after an hourlong conversation, refusing to talk to reporters who swarmed them when their summit broke up. But the word here was that Weinstein was ready to bolt from Burbank and was already talking to various guests about his next chapter, sans Disney. One mogul said Weinstein told him he had lined up funding from Blackstone Group, a New York private equity firm.

Another duo that made waves by appearing in one another’s company was News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and satellite TV maverick Charles Ergen, the controlling shareholder of EchoStar Communications Corp., who brought his wife Candy and three of their five children.

During the cocktail hour at Sun Valley Lodge one evening, the Ergens joined a group from News Corp. that included Murdoch; his wife Wendi Deng; the company’s president, Peter Chernin; and the head of DirecTV, Chase Carey. In fact, Ergen and Murdoch seemed magnetically attracted all week, despite a stormy history stemming from an aborted joint venture, a nasty court fight and a stinging bidding war that ended last year when News Corp. took over the satellite TV leader, DirecTV.

So, of course, the hobnobbing set off rumors that the two companies would merge. Investment maven Mario Gabelli called the Ergen-Murdoch dance in Sun Valley “foreplay,” pointing to Murdoch’s tradition of taking over satellite TV underdogs in both Italy and Britain.

Murdoch scoffed at the possibility. Ergen said federal regulators would allow a merger of the nation’s sole satellite TV providers only if EchoStar was on the verge of collapse. “I’m not suicidal,” he said lightheartedly.

By the way, the big news at the kickoff Tuesday was the front-page gaff Monday in Murdoch’s New York Post, which declared that presumed Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry had tapped Rep. Dick Gephardt, not Sen. John Edwards, as his running mate.

Murdoch called reports that he was the source of the article “garbage.” His wife chimed in that her staunchly Republican husband was unlikely to have known who Kerry was picking: “He doesn’t have any sources in the Democratic Party.”

Then, Thursday morning, the moguls and their spouses voted in a mock election (one is conducted here every four years). The result: Kerry grabbed 49% and Bush 40%, with another 9% undecided or for Ralph Nader or a write-in.

For years, two of the wealthiest men in the world, investment guru Warren E. Buffett and Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates, have been regulars at the Allen & Co. soiree. Television magnate Haim Saban calls them the firm’s “trophy guests,” spoofing the assortment of so-called trophy wives on display. A local bartender said one thing distinguished one from the other: Buffett is the best tipper of the bunch, and Gates is one of the worst. “He’s a 10-to-12 percenter,” the bartender said of Gates.

During the week, Sabin made a prediction: “If Time Warner wants MGM, Time Warner will get it.”

Sony Corp. has for weeks been struggling to lock up a deal to buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., the legendary movie studio. While other top executives hiked, biked, golfed and went white-water rafting Wednesday afternoon, Sony’s chief financial officer, Robert Wiesenthal, spent hours glued to his cellphone at a table flanking the skating rink.

By Thursday evening, the Japanese consumer electronics giant’s U.S. chief, Howard Stringer, was telling counterparts that troubles with Sony’s private equity backers might force it to bow out of the bidding. Sources said those backers were tightening the screws by cutting the movie distribution fees Sony would collect under their joint-venture buyout deal.

Sony declined to comment. So did Time Warner Inc. Chairman Richard Parsons. But sources here predicted a deal would probably be announced in the next two weeks, with the entertainment giant paying about $4.5 billion.

As usual, the Allen & Co. guest list -- the deconstruction of which is an annual pastime -- was a convergence of Hollywood, New York and Silicon Valley, with a sprinkling of political, sports and academic heavyweights. Invitees were a collection of first-timers, old-timers, the deposed and the retired. All were friends of Herbert Allen, 64, who spent upward of $10 million hosting potential and current clients and their families.

Those who failed to turn up were as much fodder for chitchat as those who made the scene.

Some highlights: Fallen Disney President Michael Ovitz said he would be there but stayed away; former America Online chief Steve Case, architect of the Internet giant’s ill-fated merger with Time Warner, attended; Redstone apparently decided at the last minute to stay home to leave the spotlight to Viacom Inc.’s two new presidents, Tom Freston and Leslie Moonves, who seemed to fit snuggly into the high-octane crowd.

Moonves, in charge of Viacom’s radio division, joked that he was plotting the next big merger after being seen sharing a cocktail with Mark Mays of Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation’s leading radio broadcaster.

As for Freston, after shunning this high-powered stage in the past, he got right into the spirit: He spent two afternoons skeet-shooting with his teenage son, whom he said had honed his skills on video games. The bohemian bigwig and MTV builder said he got a surprising charge out of shooting a firearm for the first time.

And where was cable tycoon Malone of Liberty Media Corp.? Sources said he was on vacation in Europe, where he owns a collection of cable systems.